I must give credit where credit is due. Year after year, the Frameline film festival has been showing some pretty damn good films, and upon perusing through their 2014 catalogue I have no reason to think this year will be any different.

Not only is the Frameline festival a chance for the LGBT community to celebrate their identity through the medium of film, but due to the constant stellar programming department’s continued focus on quality over content, it has also grown to become one of my favorite Bay Area festivals.

Frameline 38 takes place from June 19th – June 29th. And now, here’s what I’m looking forward to seeing. Read More…

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Where I Am

In 1999 gay American author Robert Drake was brutally beaten and left to die in the streets of his then home of Sligo, Ireland. As a result of this incident Drake’s life has never been the same. Aside from the slowing of his speech, his reliance on a wheelchair, and the 24-hour assistance he receives while traveling, he has lost the ability to do what it is he was once so good at – writing novels. Fortunately, Drake’s memories of the attack are non-existent. Just how much of an effect his lack of remembering has contributed to his extraordinary ability to whole-heartedly forgive his assailants is anybody’s guess. Also anybody’s guess, why director Pamela Drynan‘s absent of depth or focus on any of the more interesting aspects of this story. Read More…

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While some of the best LGBT themed films were happening inside the Castro theatre, outside there was this (pic above) going on. No, that’s not a gay pride zombie invasion, it’s a celebratory gathering in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage. And as much as I would have been perfectly content to join my fellow Californians in their jubilant overtaking of the Castro District I had a movie to see. Besides, it’s not like the first beautifully clear day we’ve had all week is going to just disappear in the next two hours. After all, this is the week leading up to the Gay Pride Parade, and for as long as I’ve been in San Francisco (wow, almost 9 years already) Pride has always found a way to take place under cloudless sun-filled skies. I don’t see why this year would be any different. Read More…

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Sexual Tension: Violetas

Oh man, if only my 13-year-old self were here to have seen this soft core omnibus of sex six lesbian fantasies. He would be rolling in tissue box heaven. Alas, I’m nowhere near 13, which means I have zero interest in spending my time watching an entire film composed of all the cornball esthetics associated with this atrocious sub-genre e.g., dreadfully stiff acting, keyboard driven muzak, and lots of noticeably bad soap opera style set designs and lighting.

This collection of shorts is proof positive that just because your film features some of the most gorgeous young Spanish women on the planet that it could still be a heaping piece of doo-doo. And for those of you who have seen this and think I’m being too critical, mainly because I don’t fall into its targeted audience – news alert, I’m not a lesbian – well, how do you explain the numerous amount of people who walked out before the third short even began? I too would have walked out along with them, but out of respect for my early-teen self I stuck this one out. Read More…

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Bwakaw

I couldn’t think of a better setting to see this year’s Philippines official Oscar entry than amidst a jam packed theatre full of gay men, most of whom happen to be Filippino. What an audience! Their charged reactions of shouting laughter and amplified gasps made what would have been seen as a straight forward drama in any other setting into one hell of a good time.

When done correctly, I’ll take a film that embraces the esthetics that, to me, define the word simplicity over a convoluted roundabout sideplotty production any day of the week. Give me simple and slow pacing, simple to-the-point dialogue, simple understated performances, some simple sight gags, one or two simple realistic resolutions, and a capable cast to bring it all together and I’ll be as happy as a clam, assuming that clams are happy of course. Can clams be happy? No time to wiki that now. On with the review. Read More…

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Although San Francisco’s 37th LGBT themed film festival began last night (Thursday), for me it began on the following morning (Friday) with a retro screening of Jamie Babbit‘s 1999 dramedy, But I’m a Cheerleader. And I have to say, this wasn’t a bad way to start the day.

Natasha Lyonne plays Megan, a teenager oblivious to the fact that she is a lesbian. Unfortunately for her, rather than discover her sexuality on her own, she’s forced to a rehabilitation camp where homos will learn to be straight and more “normal”, but not before a hilarious intervention with her parents, friends, boyfriend and spokesperson for the gay-to-straight camp, ironically played by RuPaul. Read More…

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Future My Love

I do believe I just saw my very first non-fi-sci-fi film, and boy, is my brain exhausted.

With understanding ease, this ambitious documentary succeeds in relaying such hefty themes as the future of mankind, the nature of love, and the notion that the world of tomorrow can be lived in a non-monetary system. Part profile on the outside-the-box steadfast ideologies of futurist/genius, Jacque Fresco, and part insightful poetic exploration of one woman’s journey of heart, mind, and soul, this is one movie that is truly life changing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sustainable non-socially offensive environment to think about.

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Frameline, the oldest (and still the largest) LGBT film festival in the world, has announced the line-up for its milestone 35th anniversary edition which takes place from June 16 to 26. At a press conference last week, Executive Director K.C. Price and Festival Director Jennifer Morris gave a tour of this year’s 231 films (80 features and 151 shorts) representing 30 countries in 105 programs. As usual, they’ve gone and programmed virtually every new queer film I’ve been lusting after these past 12 months, plus some intriguing selections that weren’t on my radar. Here’s a selective overview of what’s in store for us. Read More…

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